Overview of Key Features
- Client: Taiyo Coffee (Tanimachi, Chuo Ward, Osaka; an in-house coffee roaster founded in 1959)
- Project Scope: Urgent redesign of an outdated website and e-commerce system
- Scope of Work: Requirements gathering, system design, design, coding, e-commerce development, and SEO optimization
- Key Production Points: Architecture that minimizes maintenance burden / Isolation of personal information risks / Design built to last 10 years
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Taiyo Coffee is an in-house coffee roaster that has been in business since 1959 in Tanimachi, Chuo Ward, Osaka City.They offer a wide variety of beans, including Blue Mountain No. 1, Bourbon Amarelo, and organically grown beans from East Timor, and they also provide custom roasting to suit customers’ preferences as well as coffee gift sets. Their roasting techniques, honed over many years, and their meticulous selection of beans are the reasons they have so many loyal fans.
A Sudden Crisis: The Production Company’s Closure and the Risk of Data Loss
By the time we were consulted, the production company they had previously contracted with had already ceased operations, creating an urgent situation where “all data except the domain had been lost.” We began work under the threat that the website could disappear at any moment.
As we investigated further, we discovered issues that went beyond mere data loss.WordPress core, plugins, PHP, and the database were all running on outdated versions; the fact that the site was still functioning at all was nothing short of a miracle. Furthermore, an outdated e-commerce system handling personal information was running on the same vulnerable server. Since Taiyo Coffee did not have administrative access and lacked a clear understanding of their own site’s status, the situation posed significant risks.
Policy: A Design Philosophy Centered on a “Website That Will Last 10 Years”
Given this situation, Lake and Moon Design made “a website that will last 10 years” the central focus of this redesign. Specifically, we prioritized the following three points:
- Creating a robust architecture that minimizes the burden of system updates
- Creating a design that can be used for the long term without being swayed by temporary trends
- Ensuring that Taiyo Coffee can easily edit product pages on their own
Design and System: Modern Retro and Sustainable Operation
In terms of design, rather than chasing the latest flashy trends, we adopted a “modern retro” aesthetic that reflects the shop’s history and warmth. This approach aligns closely with Taiyo Coffee’s inherent brand image.
On the system side, we prioritized sustainable operations above all else. We adopted “microCMS” for content management, minimizing the need for ongoing maintenance and updates typically required by platforms like WordPress. While maintaining ease of daily updates, we significantly reduced the burden of security management, which requires specialized knowledge.
For the e-commerce system, we adopted “BASE,” a platform that does not maintain its own database. We eliminated the risk of customer information accumulating on outdated servers, as was the case previously, and restructured the system to entrust payment processing and personal information management to a trusted platform. This allows both Taiyo Coffee and the development team to focus on operations without having to directly handle personal information.
In addition, we have implemented structured markup using JSON-LD on product pages and optimized SEO from the internal structure to ensure that prices and product details are displayed correctly in Google search results.
Feedback Following the Redesign
Since its launch, the site has become a space that more clearly conveys “the essence of Taiyo Coffee.” The redesigned product pages began generating traffic immediately after the relaunch and have been driving actual sales right from the start.
- Emergency Response to Data Loss and Server Risks Following the Production Company’s Closure
- Transition to an e-commerce structure that does not store personal information in-house (adoption of BASE)
- Sustainable system design with minimal maintenance burden through the adoption of microCMS
- Optimization of Search Results Display Using JSON-LD Markup
It is not uncommon for long-established stores to face similar issues, such as “being unable to contact the web development agency” or “security concerns due to an outdated system.” If your store or business is facing similar challenges, please feel free to contact us for a consultation.
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